WELLINGTON, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Eight percent of New Zealanders have personally experienced sextortion, while another 13 percent know someone who has, according to research by online safety organization Netsafe.
The research found 35 percent of victims reported a moderate to severe impact on their mental wellbeing, as Netsafe and digital wellbeing platform Ignite Aotearoa launched a new pilot providing free counseling and wellbeing support to victims of online harm, Netsafe said in a statement on Wednesday.
An increasing number of New Zealanders have been left distressed by online sextortion, image-based abuse and tech-facilitated harm, the statement said.
The Digital Harm Support Pathway pilot will provide victims reporting serious online harm with up to three funded counseling sessions through Ignite's network of professional counselors nationwide, Netsafe said.
Netsafe CEO Brent Carey said the organization's frontline teams were increasingly seeing the human consequences of online abuse, including fear, shame and anxiety.
"People come to us frightened that an intimate image will be sent to their family, their friends, their school or their workplace. Some are being blackmailed for money. Others are being stalked or have intimate images shared without their consent," Carey was quoted as saying.
Netsafe's previous case analysis has found sextortion can result in severe emotional distress, including depression and suicidal thoughts, the statement said.
Netsafe received 53,691 reports of online harm in the two years to March 2026, more than 2,000 every month, the organization said. ■
